


Ice Cream Revelations

by wackyjacqs



Series: Bizarre Holidays [216]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 22:15:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20415178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wackyjacqs/pseuds/wackyjacqs
Summary: “I can’t believe you – you’ve never had an ice cream sandwich,” he questions.“Never?”Sam slowly meets his eye and can’t help but smile at the way he’s now staring at her in confusion. “Never, sir.”





	Ice Cream Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ‘Ice Cream Sandwich Day’ (2 August). Set late season 1.

“What’s an ice cream sandwich?”

“You remember those chocolate wafers you ate last week?” Jack asks as his gaze shifts from Cassandra to Sam and back again.

When the little girl nods enthusiastically, his smile widens. “Well, if you put some ice cream in between two of the wafers, then you’ve got yourself an ice cream sandwich.”

“It sounds yummy.”

He nods in approval and glances over at his teammate. “It tastes yummy too – wouldn’t you agree, Captain?”

“I’m afraid I wouldn’t know, sir. I have never eaten an ice cream sandwich.”

Freezing at her revelation, Jack slowly turns to face her. “Excuse me?”

She is taken aback by his affronted expression and lets her gaze fall to the ground as she shrugs. “Sorry, sir,” she says quietly, “but I can’t help you with this one.”

“But –” he stammers “– it’s a hallmark of summer!”

“Really?”

“I can’t believe you – you’ve never had an ice cream sandwich,” he questions._ “Never?”_

She slowly meets his eye and can’t help but smile at the way he’s now staring at her in confusion. “Never, sir.”

“Well, why the he– _heck_ not?”

She tries not to laugh at his almost slip-up in front of Cassie, so she just offers him another shrug. “Whenever I wanted ice cream, I always thought it made more sense to just eat it out of a bowl.”

“How _boring_.”

“It was either that or the tub,” she smiles, ignoring his teasing tone.

Suddenly, Jack is hit with images of Carter eating ice-cream from a tub and, for reasons he refuses to dwell on, he enjoys it more than he should.

“It always depended on the kind of day I was having.”

Her voice breaks through his thoughts and he quickly guides both Sam and Cassie towards the ice-cream shop, but then as her words settle in his mind, Jack’s amusement starts to fade and he hesitates.

“Did you eat ice-cream out of the tub often?”

“All the time when I was younger.”

He’s only recently discovered the circumstances surrounding the death of Sam’s mother, and the captain’s subsequently strained relationship with her father, but a slight frown creases his brow as he wonders just what other kind of things she’s had to face growing up.

“What about now?”

The question leaves his lips before he realizes, but her answer doesn’t settle the uneasy feeling that’s growing in the pit of his stomach.

“Sometimes.”

Her smile remains, but it’s smaller than it was a moment ago and there’s something about the way that she won’t quite meet his eye again, that tells him the ritual is something she does more than she wants to admit.

He suddenly feels guilty and wants to ask her what is causing her to do this; is it because she’s had a bad day, or because she’s upset; or is it down to something he – or the rest of the team – have done and don’t know about. He has more questions than answers but he also knows that if he was to ask her outright, she wouldn’t be completely honest. Instead, he lets the thoughts swirl around his head and gestures towards the shop.

“Here we are,” he says, his hand falling to Sam’s lower back as he holds the door open with his other hand, “Prepare yourself, captain. This is going to be an education.”

* * *

With a fond smile, Jack watches as Cassie makes her way through the shop and towards the restrooms to wash the remnants of ice cream from her face and hands. Seeing she gets there safely, he then turns his attention to Sam and he grins when he sees she is also covered in ice cream.

Her fingers are sticky and her mouth is surrounded by a thin line of white cream. The image is both amusing and endearing but when she meets his eye and smiles, right before she breaks the stare and her tongue darts out of the corner of her mouth to catch a drop of the ice cream, Jack feels another emotion entirely flare within him. He clears his throat and picks up one of the napkins, handing it to his teammate.

“You got a little something…”

He gestures vaguely in the direction of her lips and when she nods her thanks, he averts his gaze, silently congratulating himself for not offering to help the captain wipe away the last few traces.

“So,” he says, picking up another napkin and, focusing on one corner, starts to tear off tiny pieces, “what did you think?”

“I think Cassie was right, sir.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she nods. “It was yummy.”

A low chuckle escapes him at the description. “Beats eating from the tub anyway, I guess.”

He watches her out of the corner of his eye for a reaction to his statement. She nods slowly in agreement, but doesn’t give anything else away, so he decides to push the issue a little, knowing that if she fails to answer his question, Cassie will be back soon to break any tension.

“So, what’s the deal? Eating from the tub,” he adds quietly, when Sam frowns at his question.

“What do you mean?”

“You said it was dependant on the kind of day you were having – are those bad days?”

Her lips form an ‘O’ shape as she realizes what he is talking about and a light pink blush stains her cheeks. “It’s nothing, sir.”

“And yet, it’s not.”

“I don’t –”

“I’m not judging you, Captain. I just… want to make sure everything is OK.”

“What makes you think things aren’t OK?”

He grimaces as he continues to tear the napkin to pieces and avoid her gaze. “Well, without sounding sexist,” he starts, “in my experience eating ice cream from the tub is something women do when they’re upset or having a bad day. At least, isn’t that what they show in the movies?”

He can feel his own face heating at his explanation as he glances at her, a feeling that only intensifies when Sam tries to hide a smile. “So, just thought I’d check,” he mumbles self-consciously.

“I appreciate your concern, sir, thank you,” she says, placing her own napkin on the small table, her elbow knocking his by accident, “but everything’s fine. Really.”

“OK,” he nods. “That’s – that’s good.”

They sit in silence for a few seconds when he hears Sam clear her throat. “It’s not something I did all the time.”

He turns to look at her, her words barely above a whisper, as she stares in the direction of the restrooms. “When I was younger, it was only when I was having a bad day. It didn’t really help with how I was feeling, but it made me feel better at the same time.”

Jack decides not to say anything, choosing to let her finish. “I guess I never felt as _alone_ afterwards,” she trails off. “It's silly.”

“Nah,” he admits. “We all have our own ways of dealing with stuff,” he adds, brushing the scraps of napkin towards the center of the table. “Ice cream doesn’t sound that bad of a choice in the grand scheme of things.”

“Hmm.”

They fall into silence when he decides to press further and get at the heart of the issue – and what is really gnawing at him.

“You said you still do it.”

“I didn’t mean –”

“I didn’t realize things were so bad. Are they?”

“They’re not,” she fires back, and then realizing where they are, winces and mumbles an apology. “It’s just – permission to speak freely, sir?”

He frowns slightly, but nods and waits.

“I haven’t had the easiest start to – this job,” she says after a beat, “none of us have, but things _are_ fine. _I’m_ fine.”

Jack’s frown deepens as he leans back in his chair and realizes that she’s right. Not even two weeks into her position on SG-1, the captain had been kidnapped and beaten while on Simarka; then, she’d been stabbed in the stomach by another member of the SGC as a result of the Touched virus; and then there was the whole mess with Jonas Hanson…

He winces at the recollection of their first handful of missions and he now knows that he should have been paying more attention. He learned quickly as to the kind of officer Carter is and how she was so desperate to prove herself to him; to prove her worth at being assigned to SG-1, that she would never admit if there was a problem. She refuses to admit weakness or let it show – she’s already proven that on their missions – and he realizes that while he appreciates that his teammate can focus on with the job even if something is bothering her, the situation is not acceptable either. They are a _team_ and he needs to let her know that she can trust him and talk to him and tell him when something is wrong.

“Captain – _Sam,_” he amends, ignoring how her eyebrows rise in surprise at the use of her first name. “As your commanding – I mean – you shouldn’t – this job is – it’s different,” he finally says. “Our team – we operate in a different way to other units within the Air Force,” he shrugs, “so you need – you should feel that you can come to me if something’s bothering you. We’re all still learning to work together, but we also need to trust each other. A hundred percent. Don’t keep it to yourself. OK?”

He watches as Sam’s expression hardens and he thinks his offer to talk sounds actually more like an order.

“Let me rephrase that,” he sighs, “if you get another rough day, or ever feel like you need to eat ice cream by the tub… Sometimes it’s OK to try an ice-cream sandwich instead.”

“I –”

He holds Sam’s gaze and he sees the moment she understands what he is trying to say. He feels strangely relieve, but just as she is about to answer, Cassie drops onto the empty chair at the other side of the table and they both jump. He’s the first to recover.

“Please tell me the sticky fingers are gone.”

Cassie giggles at his horrified expression and holds up two freshly washed hands.

“Atta girl,” he grins, then gets to his feet. “C’mon. Your mom will be wondering where you are.”

He leads the little girl out of the shop, and gestures for Sam to follow but she stops in the doorway as she reaches him, her face just inches from his, and she smiles shyly.

“Thank you, sir.”

“For what?”

“For letting me discover the benefits of an ice cream sandwich.”

He tries to think of a response, but she leaves him speechless as he remains standing in the doorway with a grin on his face and he knows that while it is only a start, they’re going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this one is, well, boring.


End file.
